CHINA’S second domestically-made large cruise ship — Adora Flora City — reached a crucial point in its construction on Monday, moving closer to its scheduled delivery in 2026. China State Shipbuilding Corp. (CSSC), the world’s largest shipbuilder, said in a news release that water started to be pumped into the vessel’s dry dock since early Monday morning, soon floating the ship. A floating ceremony was held after the process at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, a CSSC subsidiary and the vessel’s construction contractor. Floating is one of the most important stages in any large cruise ship’s construction as it allows for the examination and testing of the vessel’s hull and hardware. Upon completion of this stage, the ship will go through outfitting procedures and mooring tests. As the second to emerge from China’s relentless pursuit to independently build large cruise ships, which have been recognized as the most difficult and sophisticated among all types of civilian ships to design and construct, Adora Flora City’s construction started in August 2022 at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding, with a planned delivery time around the end of 2026. Compared to the first domestically-built large cruise ship — Adora Magic City, the second vessel boasts optimized designs and larger size. The 141,900-metric-ton ship is 341 meters long, 17.4 meters longer than the first one. In the meantime, the vessel has 19 more guest rooms, bringing the total number to 2,130 rooms that can accommodate a maximum of 5,232 passengers. Its public areas will also be larger than those on the first ship. Thanks to technical innovations, the new ship’s building process has been faster than that of the Adora Magic City, according to engineers. Once put to service, the cruise vessel will take Guangzhou as its home port. The Adora Magic City started construction at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding in October 2019. It was completed in July 2023 and began sea trials, after which it was commissioned in November 2023, based in Shanghai. Since its maiden voyage in January 2024, the cruise liner has completed more than 100 voyages, servicing more than 350,000 guests, according to CSSC. (SD-Agencies) | 